Indiana got much tougher with the additions of Scola, Copeland and Watson. Their bench is much stronger and they will be a primary contender for the 1st in the division. They are a proven playoff team and will be one of the top contenders to knock off Heat and go to the finals. In addition they added McMillan to their coaching staff to replace Shaw.

Chicago’s performance will largely depend on Rose's health. Supposedly he has recovered and should be ready at the season’s beginning. I was expecting that Bulls would make some other moves after signing Dunleavy. The pickings are slim at this point and Robinson left, so the team needs someone at the backup PG spot. The starting five on this team are strong, however their bench is extremely thin and I am not sure if the team can continue putting their starters out on the court for 40 min most nights and expect them to produce and remain healthy. If they can find quality additions and if Rose is healthy, the Bulls will be a top challenger to Indiana.

Milwaukee is going through a big changeover. A completely new backcourt including a young and largely unproven PG will make this season interesting to say the least. It is tough to see the team even repeating last year’s results with the way the roster currently structured. It will also be interesting to see how many points they will be giving up with this roster. Overall, many question marks about this team.

Detroit has definitely upgraded and the expectations are definitely higher after a very productive off-season. Smith and Jennings bring new dimensions to the team that have been sorely lacking: an actual PG, who can score and also set the others up and a strong defensive player who can also score. The team is definitely better and is positioned to finish higher than last season. How high will depend on how the coach utilizes the players, how the new roster will mash on the court, and if the new signings can play “smart” basketball. Could finish 3rd in the division.

Cleveland has potentially gotten better, but that really depends on Bynum's health and development of Waiters. Jack will help this team and he could also step in if Kyrie is injured again. They also have an excess of bigs on the roster, so it would be interesting to see if any of them are moved to possibly obtain more scoring. This team could be potentially very good but there are many question marks here as well which include player health, chemistry, and where the points will come from.

I'd say we did the most substantial upgrade this off-season, followed by Indiana. If Rose is health, all Chicago did was lateral moves. Cleveland is question mark for sure. If Bynum can stay healthy and play at the same level he used to they can be a dangerous team.

3rd in the Central seems reasonable. The 5th seed overall would be sweet, but it won't be easy. Hawks made some nice additions (Millsap, Brand) to replace Smith, so I don't expect them to be much worse. And it's really hard to say where the Knicks will be. Feels like they can end up either very high or very low.

I don't think Cleveland will be that good to be honest. I seriously doubt Bynum will have noticable impact at all (and that's IF he plays). Jack was a nice addition, considering all the injuries that Irving always have. Though, if the Cavs want to make the playoffs, Irving MUST stay healthy for a good portion of the regular season-games.

It makes sense for the Bucks to miss the playoffs this season. They made the roster younger, and should focus on playing the new, young players.

I don't think Hawks done enough to replace Smith. Brand is a has been at this point and Millsap is not as good defensively. They also have a new coach, so it would be interesting to see how he does.
Bucks will be pretty much forced to play their youngsters as they don't have much else anyway.

I was pondering about that for a while before deciding to omit. But this pales in comparison with a loss of Kravtsov. Now we have to fund the back up center. I wonder if Maggette will fit? He's a great cheerleader.

I was pondering about that for a while before deciding to omit. But this pales in comparison with a loss of Kravtsov. Now we have to fund the back up center. I wonder if Maggette will fit? He's a great cheerleader.

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If Maggette can get healthy, he can play. Apparently, he is still training, still trying to get back to form. (From reading hoopshype a bit ago.) In my opinion, if we choose to start Smith at small forward, that creates the need for another big, whereas, if you (don't get too mad) break up the Drummond / Monroe duo then you don't need that spare big. Lets say a guy like Magette does get healthy, and can again actually guard someone in the league, and we use him as one of our small forwards. (Like for instance starting Jennings, Pope, Datome, Smith, Drummond, and coming in with a 2nd unit of Siva, Billups, Maggette, Mitchell, Monroe.) In this case, we got four bigs in the rotation for the bigs, and that should be enough. In '05 we just ran a three man rotation for our bigs and called that good enough. (Sheed, Ben, Dyess). I am not saying Maggette is the right guy, as I certainly don't know how that training is going, but just saying we don't have to settle for the best big available - we could widen the search to the best player availabe (at shooting guard or small forward - or of course a power forward or a center if the right one came along.)

My guess is Smith will start at SF but only so all 3 guys can say they are starters. Then Smith will be replaced 3-4 mins in and we will settle into a 3 guy rotation up front. So we would still need someone to play heavy mins at SF, who knows who that will be. - Maybe JJ or Luigi. We also need a SG as its hard to count on a rookie and CB at this stage of his career. Still some roles to fill.

Its going to be a lot harder this time around than 10 years ago. Two very good teams in our division alone. Not to mention Miami and NY in the other.

My guess is Smith will start at SF but only so all 3 guys can say they are starters. Then Smith will be replaced 3-4 mins in and we will settle into a 3 guy rotation up front. So we would still need someone to play heavy mins at SF, who knows who that will be. - Maybe JJ or Luigi. We also need a SG as its hard to count on a rookie and CB at this stage of his career. Still some roles to fill.

Its going to be a lot harder this time around than 10 years ago. Two very good teams in our division alone. Not to mention Miami and NY in the other.

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Joe alluded to this in an interview awhile back. It sounded like he expects one of the bigs (either Dre or Moose) to come out around the six minute mark, with Josh sliding to the 4, and then rotate those three at the 4/5. You'll probably see Chuck V chip in 12-14 minutes as a stretch 4.

It does look like Singler and Gigi will be fighting it out for the lion's share of minutes at the 3.

The SG position is the big question mark here. Billups can shoot and help either BJ or Bynum run the offense, but he's really a 15 minute guy at this point. That leaves a rookie to play around 33 minutes a night. Stuckey could help there, but he would need to play with either Billups or Jennings at the point, Gigi/Singler at the 3, Chuck V or Josh at the 4, and probably Dre at the 5. So, Suckey has a shot to play.